Sudan continues to restrict activities of opposition parties
September 3, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Reform Now Movement (RNM) led by former presidential adviser Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Attabani claimed that Sudanese authorities arrested four of its senior figures on Thursday as they were holding an open air address at the main bus station in downtown Khartoum.
Plain clothed security officers quickly stepped in and arrested four RNM members who were identified as RNM chairman in Khartoum state Khaled Nouri, his deputy Ja’afar al-Sadiq, politburo member Sami Abdel-Wahab and Nagi Imam who is charge of students and youths sector in the party.
RNM splintered from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in October 2013 after a memorandum submitted by top party figures to the government calling for reforms in wake of the deadly government crackdown on demonstrators protesting lifting of fuel subsidies.
“They did not bear arms or appeal for foreign intervention or call for toppling.. but they talked about corruption and spoke to people about their rights,” RNM said on their official Facebook page.
“We as a political party wanted to exercise our political rights guaranteed by law inside and outside of our headquarters and our requests were always denied without being given any convincing excuse from the authorities”.
RNM stressed that the party engages in mass communications in the markets and public places to educate Sudanese about their rights and noted that president Omer Hassan al-Bashir promised at the national dialogue conference to allow opposition parties to carry out all their political activities inside and outside their headquarters.
It accused Sudanese security of brutally beating up members and participants today “to the dismay of all those present”.
In a related development, the Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) said that authorities refused to allow them to hold a political event despite president’s directives.
SCoP listed the sequence of formal requests for permission it made to authorities since August 24th.
After much back and forth with authorities, party officials received a phone call informing them that their request was rejected “for security reasons”. The SCoP insisted on a written decision to that effect but to no avail.
SCoP said that it is either Bashir’s promises are empty words or that there are certain circles in the states who do not care about presidential directives.
Last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) said in a joint statement that “Sudan’s national security officials are abusing people just for expressing their political views”.
This month, SCoP said they filed a complaint with the Political Parties Affairs Council (PPAC) urging them to interfere to preserve rights of the party members. The legal department at the PPAC told them that they would consider the complaint and respond to it in September.
NISS enjoys wide-ranging powers of arrest, detention, search and seizure under the country’s 2010 National Security Act.
The SCoP continues to hold speeches in public areas such as the markets and gathering places to urge the citizens to resist the government policies.
“The continuous arrests and harassment underscore an urgent need to reform Sudan’s draconian security service in line with international norms,” said Katherine Perks, ACJPS Programme Director. “Sudan should immediately stop the abuses, reform the security service, and hold abusive officers to account for these actions”.
(ST)